1. Field
The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a refrigerator having a carbonated water production function.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, refrigerators are appliances which include storage chambers which store food and cooling air supply units which supply cooling air to the storage chambers and thus maintain the freshness of the stored food. The refrigerators may include ice-making devices which make ice and dispensers from which users extract water or the ice from the outside of the refrigerator without opening doors to meet the requirement of the users.
The Refrigerator may further include carbonated water production devices which generate carbonated water. The carbonated water production device includes a carbon dioxide cylinder in which a high pressure carbon dioxide gas is stored and is provided to produce the carbonated water by mixing with purified water.
For producing the carbonated water, a method has been used where a carbonated water tank is separately provided to which water and carbon dioxide is supplied to make the carbonated water to be supplied through a dispenser.
However, in this case, many sensors were required to sense a pressure, water level, etc. in the carbonated water tank, and because the volume of elements thereof so big that there was problem with the refrigerator becoming unnecessarily big. In addition, there was a problem due to a concern for the carbonated water to be spoiled when kept in the carbonated water tank for a long time.